Intercommunicating pick-up system.



' 0.3.1ENNINGS; I NTERCOMMUNICATING PICK-UP SYSTEM.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 24, 1914.

Patented Feb. 8,1916.'

' 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

[22 v 1 922 for.

. By i fiflww J1 Horn 99 rm: COLUMBIA PLANDGRAPH'COV WASHINGTON, D. c.

c. 8. JENNINGS.

INTERCOMMUNICATIN G PICK-UP SYSTEM.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 24' 1914.

, Patented Feb. 8,1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 Inverzofi lliz'zn esses.

THE COLUMBIA PMtgounAPl-x co., wAsmNflTbN, n. C.

" service.

CHESTER S. JENNINGS, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNORTO' THE LAMSON, 7 COMPANY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF ,NEW"JERSEY..

mrnnooivnuuivroariive PICK-UP 'sYsTEivr.

Application fi1ed-Apri124, 1914. Serial 'No. 834,103.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHESTER S. JENNINGS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Forest Hills, Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of-Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Inter-communicating Pick-Up Systems, of which the following is a specification. r I i v I This invention relates to carrier despatch apparatus and more especially to what is known in the art as a pick-upsystem. .Systems of this character usually comprise a closed one way track along which carriers are propelled by an endless and continuously driven cable, together with means for loading and unloading said carriers at determined points or stations.

One of the principal objects of the present invention is to provide for intercommunieating service between such stations.

Another ob ect has been to provide a system of the characterin question in which there may be more sending stations than a total number of graduations of the cars; and cars moreover which will pick up only when empty. c P.

In the accompanying drawings which form apart hereof and in which like'charaoters designate like parts throughout the several views, I have exemplified a preferred construction, but as I am aware of various changes and modifications which may be made herein without departing from the spirit of my invention, I desire to be limited only by the scope of the claims appended hereto. I I

Referring to the drawings: Figure'l is'a diagrammatic elevation of a preferred form of the pick-up system. Fig. 2 is a detail elevation drawn to a larger scale, of a portion of the apparatus shown in Fig. l which is disposed at one of the stations. Fig. 3' is a section taken on line TIL-III of Figs. 1 and 2, but drawn to a still larger scale than said last mentioned figure. Fig. 4 is-a detail plan view of a pawl guide shown in-Figs; 2 and 3. Fig. 5 is a detail elevation of said guide and associate parts. Fig. Sis a plan view of a car, .and Fig. 7 isan end view of said car.

The track 1 is preferably endless or continuous and may extend wherever desired in accordance with the exigencies of the A cable 2 serves to propel cars,

Specification of Letters Patent.

articles. a

Patented net. 5, 1916;

broadly designated 3, along the track in the direction of the arrows shown in Figs.

2 and 3; and since cars ofthisdescription,

save for certain important changeshereinafter 'notedyare in {general use, the construction of such cars will bebut described. I I i The preferred carrier or car comprises a slide 4 which rides 'between the'rails of the track 1 and has rearwardly extending therefrom anextension-5 which is preferably fixedly connected to the cable 12. To the front of the'slide 4 is attached abracket 6 between the ears 7 of which "is pivoted, upon a shaft 8, a U-shaped frame or support 9 for the bent wire frame 10, which preferably constitutes the lower jaw' o-f-the package or article clamp. The upper or fixed jaw 11 of this clamp projects out from the bracket 6 from points above theshaft S, and the generally fjaws 10- and 11 are respectively provided with loops or. bends 10 and-11 which serve to retain articles in position between said jaws when the latter are clamped upon such Between theinwardly directed hubs 9"o-f the frame 9, and loosely mounted upon shaft 8, is a bent lever 12, which for-convenience of illustration has been partlybroken away in Fig. 6. This lever has a stop 12 which 85 is normally held in engagement with the base "of the br'acketfi by a spring 13, coiled around one ofthe hubs 9.; one end of this spring being in engagement with a pin 14 upon the arm 12 and 'the'other end being correspondingly in engagement with the underside of the base'ofithe -bracket. Upon the other hub 9 of the movable jaw-frame 9, is mounted a. considerably heavierspring It), the ends of which respectivelyengage a pin 16 on frame 9'andthe. said under side of the bracket 6. The movable jaw ll) hence has a; pronounced-bias for its closed or upp r P0SltlOI1 I I I The arm 12 of "each' carries a Toner 16 100 which is adapted for engagement with bent strips or cams 17A, 17*, etc., disposed at points where it is desired to open the aws of certain or all of the cars, as the Casey maybe- I Obviously as many carsmay be provided as-may be desired and hence, while, for example, four stations respectively designated A, B, C and D, have been shown in Fig. 1, the number of cars provided toserve 110 these stations may be considerably in excess of this number. All cars to serve a particular station have the arms 12 thereof of the same length; that is, the roller 16 will be spaced away from the shaft 8 a determined distance corresponding to that station; but, since a number of stations are to be served it is preferable to provide different cars with arms 12 of different lengths, so that the rollers 16 of such arms may engage different cam members. To distinguish between these cam elements at unloading points, they have been respectively designated 17A, 17B, 17C, 17D, and it is evident that those cars whose rollers 16 can ride upon cam 17A, will discharge at station A, while those cars whose rollers can engage cam 1713 will correspondingly discharge at station E, etc.

As shown in Fig. 2 which is a detail of station A in Fig. 1, any car which unloads into the receiving shelf or receptacle 18 at said stationimmediately thereafter passes the group of sending pans or shelves disposed at this station. Since there are in the present case three stations to which articles may be transmitted from station A, there are preferably provided three sending pans respectively designated Z), c, and d.

Each of these pans preferably consists of an inclined frame which is adapted to support articles such as letters or other papers or packages, and the 1ike; s uitable gages or lugs 19 and 20 being provided in connection with each pan so that when a letter, for example, has been placed thereon it will be definitely positioned with respect to the aperture 21 in the pan through which rises the movable jaw of any car which coacts with such pan. Where larger packages or articlesare also to. be despatched, auxiliary centering or gage lugs 22 may project upwardly from the .pan surfaces; lugs 22 being spaced farther back from the corresponding openings 21'than are thelugs 19. For convenience in construction the pans of a given station may be formed integrally, as shown in Fig. 2, and said pans are suitably supported from the tracks by brackets 23; and the receiving shelves or receptacles 18 may also be correspondingly supported from the tracks by brackets 24. Adjacent each loadingpan is a loading cam rod 17*, 17", 17, etc, which corresponds to such pan. Thus, aw opening cam 17", which is adapted to actuate the operating arm of cars which discharge at station B, is shown at station A and as such a car passes this cam 17 its operating arm is first thrown down, and, provided that operative connections are established in the manner hereinafter described between the arm 12 and the movable jaw, the latter will be swung down before it reaches the pan and since the cam 17" terminates at or is bent away substantially opposite the middle of pan Y); jaw 10 will rise at this point, the portions thereof adthereby lifting the article to be despatched into engagement with the upper or fixed aw llagainst which said article is clamped by said lower jaw. Correspondingly despatching cam 17 co-acts with the sending pan 0; while a third cam 17 controls the despatch of articles from pan 03.

Referring now more particularly to Fi 8, G and 7, it will be noted that there projects upwardly through substantially the center of the jaw 10 a lever or finger which is loosely mounted upon a short sh aft 26, and this lever is normally held in its upper or full line position, as shown in Fig. 7, by a relatively light spring 27, one end of which is attached to said lever at 27 and the other end of which is attached to the frame 9. The shaft or pin 26 is mounted in lugs 29 which project downwzr 1y upon ither side of the frame shaft 26 bein conveniently secured in said lugs means ofa pin 30. Also loosely mounted upon shaft 26 is a sleeve 31 from which downwardly projects a pawl 32, the function of which will be hereinafter I referred to. Sleeve 31 is also provided with a lug 33 to which is attached one end of -a spring the other end of which is connected at 35 to the finger Springld normally rotates pawl 32 clockwise with respect to fin ger25 until lug 33 en ages a stop-lug carried by the finger 2o, sothat the parts 32 and 25 normally occupy the positions with respect to each other in which they are shown in Fig. 7. The sleeve 31 also has upwardly projecting therefrom a lug or ei tension 36 which normally lies in the path of movement of a lug 37 which projects laterally from the arm 12, so that when this arm is rotated, if lug 36 is disposed as shown in '7, a downward or opening movement of the movable jaw 10 will be effected. WVhen a package, or even a paper, which grasped between the jaws 10 and 11, in place upon the car, such package :or paper will depress thefinger 25 to its dotted line position 25 and this will rock the lug 36 into its dotted line position 36, out of the path of movement of lug 37, so that if arm 12 be actuated by any cam red when part 25 is thus disposed, said arm 12 will merely rock idly and will not cause aw 10 to open. Preferably at each station, however, there disposed a pawl guide or actuating part which is adapted for engagement with the pawl 32 when the latter is in its dotted line position 32. The pawl actuating part 38 is preferably yieldingly mounted upon a bracket 39 which is connected to the tracks, a relatively stiff spring 40 serving to rotate 30 r 7 through the opening .21 of pan a, thereby dotted line position 32 of said pawl, if the pawl be in such position, over to its full line position, shown in Fig. 7, and this without disturbing the finger25; the connection 3% between pawl and said finger yielding sufficiently to prevent the finger from being 'forced throughffor example, a sheet of paper. The general operation now be described.

Every laden carrier destined of i the system will to discharge its contents at station A, foreXa-mple, will have its jaws vopened as they come. opposite to the receptacle 18 at said station, so that the carrier will thereafter proceed unloaded until it picks up an article from oneof'the sending pans at stations A, B, G or D. If such an empty carrier is approaching station C and an article. at said station is'to'be despatched to stationA, it will be emplaced in'the pan a at station C so that when the roller 16 of said carrier engages thecorresponding cam rod 17 at station C, this will cause jaw 10 to swing open and after clearing the pan parts to swing closed forcing the article up against the fiXed jaw 11. This action will depress the finger 25 and thereby the pawl 32 of said carrier will be displaced counter-clockwise to itspd'otted line position, shown in Fig. 7. As this laden car passes station D its pawl 32 will encounter the actuating part or guide 38'at said'station which will momentarily throw pawl 32back to its full line position; spring 3% yielding to accommodate this action.

This will aline lugs 36 and 87, but there is no cam 17 at said station D which could engage roller 16 of the carrier when at this station, and hence no movement of jaw 10 with respect to the fixed jawwill-take place. The positioning of lug 36 in alinement with lug 37 is, however, but momentary and spring 34 returns it to its dotted line position 36, shown in Fig. 7, as soon as its pawl 32 clears the actuating guide 38. The carrier thereafter travels. along track 1 until it reaches station A at which point its lug 32 is again engaged by a guide 38 to throw lug 36' again into alinement with lug '37. T his time there is a cam 17A adapted to engage the roller 16 of this carrier, and arm v12 will hence be rotated counter-clockwise, asviewed in Figs. 3 and 7, until its lug 37 engageslug 36 and byreason of such engagement and its continued counter-clockwise rotation thereafter, will open jaw 10 and resiliently connected "to the latter.-

7 deposit the letter or other article which such carrier has conveyed from station G. into the receptacle 18 at station A, for which staner whenever 'it is desired to despatch an article from any one of the stations-to any other, it is merely necessary to deposit the article to be despatched in the proper sending pan which corresponds to the station to which the article is to be sent, whereupon. the firstempty carrier which normally unloadsat the station at which said article is to be sent, which passes the'stationfrom which the article'is to be despatched, will automatically 'pick' up the article fromthe" sendingpan and convey and deliverit-to the receptacle 18 at the station for which the article is destined. Atrue intercommuni-' cating system is-hence. provided and one moreover in whichthe action of picking up an articlefrom' any station,conveying it to any other and predetermined station and there depositing it, is absolutelyautomatic.

The advantage of resiliently oryieldingly mounting the pawl operating part 38 should be pointed out, since were part 38 not and to force the pawl 32 completely f-o ver I intothe position in which it is shown in Fig. 7. It is preferable also to makespring 34L somewhat lighter than spring 27 since the only function of spring 34 is to hold the pawl 32 normally in definite relationship to finger 25, while spring 27 has to position both finger 25 and the pawl 32 which is In general it will be understood that cars with but four graduations or lengths ofrarm 12 are provided in the exemplified construction, various other numbers of graduations may be used and, further, that a greater number of stations may be provided than there are graduations, as, for example, where itis desired to send to two stations from, let us say, siX others. In this case the cars would have but two graduations; which might, for example, be used upon alternate cars; and in such case, prewhile cisely like that; above described, the first empty car which would ,unload at a determined unloading point, would pick up an article destined for said-point from' the.

sending pan corresponding to said point dis posed at. any one ofthe'sending stations. The feature of controlling the, movement of tllGJZI-W of a given carrier by means-of a suitable jaw actuating device which canonly' become operative to actually open said jaw when the car is empty or when special proimportance, and it is largely by reason of this I feature that the system is capable of eXten sion toadaptit to serve a large number 'of sending stations regardless of the relatively limited number of graduations normally available.

It will be noted that the extension of all of the loading cams 17 17, etc., at any given station, back to a common point is to be preferred, since when any one of these cams opens the movable jaw of a carrier, such aw must be held out of any possibility of its colliding with any part of the set of pans which are preferably integrally formed as stated above; and the jaw of any given carrier when once opened to clear the pan first encountered should therefore be held open until it reaches the aperture 21 of the pan from which such carrier is adapted to lift a load.

' In conclusion it may be well to more aarticularl 1 )oin't out that b means of the l l l 5 construction shown it is made possible to shave intercommunicating service between all stations up to a number equivalent to the total number of graduations on the cars; while, further, the number oi stations may be nite indefinitely extended provided that the points of delivery or stations to which articles may be despatched from the various despatching points, shall not exceed the practicable or limiting number of gradurv tionsJ I am aware that equivalent constructions may be substituted for the pawl guide, but the latter is to be preferred upon the ground of simplicity in that it permits of the reduction of the number of jaw opening cams to a minimum while at the same time permit ting of the movable members upon the cars being likewise no more in number than are sutiicient to effect the objects indicated.

laving now described my invention what I claim is':

1. In a pick-up and delivery system for messages, parcels and the like, the combina tion of a track having a plurality of sta tions therealong, with movable jaw picleup carriers to travel on said track, means to propel said carriers, and actuating means, co-acting with said carriers and propelling means to automatically pick up an article at any given station and unload said article at a predetermined other one of said stations by actuating the movable aw of such carrier, each of said stations, from which loads may be despatched to said predetermined unloading station, having a load supporting part which, if an article be emplaced thereat, will co-act with at least one of said carriers and said pick-up actuating means to the end that said article will be loaded upon said carrier and conveyed thereby to said predetermined unloading station to be there unloaded by a part of said actue ating means, said picl -up actuating means having elements thereof disposed at each of said despatching stations and normally adapted to load any article to be despatched,

upon said carrier from the supporting part at each of said stations which corresponds to said predetermined unloading stations but unadapted to co-act with already loaded carriers en route therepast to said unloading station, each carrier having means to render ineffective the action of the said loading elements at stations which it asses while on route to said predetermined unloading station, said last mentioned means for any given carrier being operatively disposed when said carrier loaded.

2. In a pick-up and delivery system for messages, parcels and the like, the con'ibination of a track having a plurality of stations therealong with carriers to travel on 7 track, means to'propel said carriers, and actuating means co-acting with said carriers and propelling means, to automatica ly pick-up anarticle at any given station and unload said articlecat a predetermined one of a plurality oi" the stations at which car riers are to be unloaded, each of said stations, from which loads may be despatched to any one of said unloading stations, having load supporting parts which, if an arti cle be emplaced thereat in any one of a plurality of determined positions each oi? which positions correspond respectively to one of said unloading stations, will co-act with at least one of said carriers and said pick-up actuating means to the end that said article will be loaded upon said carrier and conveyed thereby to the corresponding unloading station to be there unloaded by a part of said actuating means, said picleup actuating means having elements thereot' disposed at each of said despatching stations and normally adapted to l ad upon a passing carrier any article which may be in place in'one of the said determined posi tions but unadapted to co-act with'said passing carrier if the latter be already loaded, each of said carriers having means to render inefiective the action of said loading ments at stations which it passes while enroute to a station beyond, said last mentioned means for any given carrier being operatively disposed when said carrier is loaded.

3. In a pick-up and delivery system "for messages, parcels and the like, the combination of a track having a plurality of stations therealong with carriers to travel on said track, means to propel said carriers, and actuating means, co-acting with said carriers and propelling means, to automatically pick-up an ar icle at any given station and selectively unload said article at a predetermined one oi a plurality of stations at which said carriers are to be selectively unloaded, cach loading station which is adapted to despatch articles to said plurality of unloading stations having thereat a plurality elements adjacent-each of said loading points for loading carriers while the latter are'passmg said points and said carriers having means to prevent said elements from disturbing loads already in place thereon when such loaded carriers are passing said elements. 7 q

4. In a pick-up and delivery system for massages, parcels and the li ke,-the combination of a track having a plurality of stations therealong with carriers to travel on said track, means to propel said carriers, and actuating means co-acting with said carriers and propelling means, to automatically pick-up an article at any given station and unload said article at a predetermined other one of said stations, each of said stations, from which loads may be despatched to said predetermined unloading station, having a relatively fixed load supporting part which, if an article he emplaced thereat, will co-act with at least one of said carriers and said pick-up actuating means to the end that said article will be loaded upon said carrier and conveyed thereby to "said predetermined unloading station to be there unloaded by a part of said actuating means, said pick-up actuating means having elements thereof disposed at each of said despatching stations and normally adapted to load any article to be despatched, upon said carrler from the supporting part at each of said stations which corresponds to said predetermined unloading station but un-r adapted to co-act with already loaded carriers en route therepast to said unloading station, each carrier having means to render ineffective the action of the said loading elements at stations which it passes while en route to said predetermined unloading station, said last mentioned means for any given carrier being operatively disposed when said carrier is loaded. 7

In a pick-up and delivery system for messages, parcels and the like, the combination of a trackhaving a-plurality of stations therealong with carriers to travel on said track, each of said carriers having a pick-up element movably mounted thereon, means to propel said carriers, and actuating means to control said pick-up elements and only adapted to co-act therewith to automatically load an empty carrier, as the latter passes any given station and to thereafter unload said carrier at a determlned point along said track, said system having pro visions to positively prevent the emplacement of a load upon an alreadyloaded carrler. Y

6. In a piokup and delivery'system for messages, parcels and the like, the combination of "a track having a plurality of stations therealong with carriers to travel on said track, each of said carriers having a pick-up element movably mounted thereon, means to propel said carriers, and actuating means to control said pick-up elements and only adapted to 'co-act therewith to automatically load an empty carrier, as the latter passes any given-station and to-thereafter unload said carrier at a determined point alongv said track, said carriers having load-controlled means to prevent the emplacement of a load uponan already loaded carrier.

7. In a pick-up and delivery system for messages, parcels and the like, the combination of a track having a plurality of-despatching stations and at least one receiving station, carriers each having a pick-up element movably mounted thereon, means to" propel said carriers along said track, and actuating cams at said despatching stations to control said pick-up elements, each carrier having a connection movably mounted thereon through which said cams act upon said pick-up elements each of said connections being normallyheld in a position to transmit the action of said -cams as the latter are encountered by the carrier upon,

which such connection is mounted, and being normally held out of said position when said carrier is loaded, whereby-to permit of the loading of. empty carriers and to prevent a cam at'a despatching station along the line of travel of an already loaded car rier en route to said receiving station,from' disturbing the load upon said carrier.

8; In a pick-up and delivery system for messages, parc'els'and the like, the combina-' tion of a track having a plurality of despatching stations and at least one-receiving station, carriers each having a pick-up element movably mounted thereon, means to propel said carriers along said track, and actuating cams at said despatching stations to control said pick-up elements, each carrier having a connection movably mounted thereon through Which said c'ams'act' upon said pick-up elements, each of said conn'ectionsbeing normally'held in a position totransmit the action of said cams as the latter are encountered by the carrier upon which such connectionis mounted, and being nor-- mally held out of said position when said carrier is loaded, whereby topermit of the loading of emptycarriers andito prevent a cam at a despatching station along the line of travel of an already loaded carrier en route to said receiving station, from dis'- turbing the load upon said carrier, and means at saidreceiving station for actuating the pick-up element of loa'dedcarriersdes tined for. said station, to unload said carriers.

9. In a pick-up and; delivery system for, messages, parcels and the like, the combination of a track having a plurality of desw patching stations and at least one receiving station, carriers each having a pick-up element movably mounted thereon, means, to propel said carriers along said track and actuating cams at said despatching. stations to control saidpick-up elements, each carrier having a connection movably mounted thereon. through which said cams act upon said pick-up elements, each of said connections being normally held in, a position to transmit the action of: said cams asthe latter are encountered by the carrier upon which such connection is mounted, and being normally held out of said position when said carrier is loaded, Whereby-topermit of the loading of empty carriers, and to prevent a cam at a despatchingstation, along the line of travel of an. already loaded carrier en route to, said receiving station, from dis turbing the, load upon said carrier, and means, including a cam at said receiving station for, actuating, thepick-upelement of loaded carriers destined, for said station, to unload said carriers.

10. In a pick-up and, delivery system for messages, parcelsand the like, the.combination of a track having a plurality of despatching stations and at least one receiving station, carriers each having, a pick-up element movably mounted thereon, means to propel said carriers along said track, and actuating cams at said despatching. stations to control saidpickup elements, each carrier having a connection movably mounted thereon through which, saidlcams act upon said pick-up elements, eachsof said connections-beingfnormally held in a position to transmit theaction of'said cams as the latter are encountered; by the carrier upon Which such connectionv is mounted, and being normally held out of. said position, When said carrier is loaded, whereby to permlt of the loading of: empty carrlers and toprevent a cam at. adespatching station along the line of travel ofan already loaded carrier en route, to saidreceiving, station, fromdisturbing. the load upon, said carrier, and carrier unloading means, including an unloading,

cam and; av device tomopve said: connection of each loaded carrier, as it arrives substantially at said receiving station, back to its first mentioned and operative position, to permit said unloadingcarn, to unload said carrier at said receiving, station.

11. In an inter-communicating pickup,

and delivery system for messages, parcels andthelike, the combination of a track having a plurality of: stations from which articlesmay bedespatched and to Whicharticles may be, delivered, graduated carriers each having a, pick-up element movably mount+ ed thereon, means to propel said carriers alongsaid track, means to support an article to be despatched, in any one of a plurality of loading positions at each of said stations from Which loads may be despatched to a corresponding number of receiving stations, each of said positions at a given station corresponding to a particular receiving station and to a carrier graduated to load at such position and unload at said particular receiving station, means to load and unload carriers, and means to allow an already loaded carrier to pass a station for which its load is not destined, Without disturbing the load upon said carrier.

12. In an inter-communicating pickup and delivery system for messages, parcels and the like, the combination of a track hav ing a plurality of stations from which articles, may be despatched and to which articles may-be delivered, carriers each havinga pickup element and an'operating arm therefor of graduated length, means to propel said carriers along. said track, means to support an. article to be despatched, in any one of a plurality of loading positions at each of said stations from which loads may bedespatched to a corresponding number of receiving stations, each of said positions at a given station corresponding to a particular receiving station and to a carrier the operating arm of Which is graduated to load at such position and unload at said particu lar receiving station, cams at said stations to actuate said arms to load and unload the carriers, and normally operatively disposed connections, carried by said carriers and adapted to be held in their inoperative positions by loads on said carriers, for transmitting the thrust from any given one of said cams, upon a. corresponding operating arm, to the pick-up element of the carrier upon Which said arm is mounted, whereby only if a carrierbe unloaded andits arm be engaged by a cam, can the pick-up element of said carrier normally be operated.

13. In an intercommunicating pick-up and delivery system formessages, parcels and the like, the combination of a track hav ing a plurality of stations from Which articles may be despatched and to which articles may be delivered, carriers each having a. pick-up element and; an operating arm therefor of graduated length, meansto propel said carriers along said track, means to support an article to be despatched, in any one of a plurality of loading positions at each of said stations from Which loads may bedespatched to a corresponding number of receiving stations, each of said positions at a given station corresponding to a particular-receiving station and to a carrier the operating arm of Which is graduated to load at such position and unload at said particular receiving station, cams at said sta tions to actuatesaid arms to load and unload Iii-5 ticles may be delivered, carriers each having the carriers, and normally operatively disposed connections, carried by said carriers and adapted to be held in their inoperative positions by loads on saidv carriers, for trans mitting the thrust from any given one or? said cams, upon a corresponding operating arm, to the pick-up element ofthe carrier upon which said arm is mounted, whereby carrier regardless of whether said carrier is loaded or not. 7 y

14. In an inter-communicating pick-up and delivery system for messages, parcels and the like, the combination of a track having a plurality of stations from which articles may be despatchedand to which ara pick-up element and a graduated operating part to control said element, a plurality of despatchmg supports at each station, each support corresponding to a particular other one of said stations to which articles may be despatched from said first mentioned sta-' tion, a graduated loading cam adjacent. each despatching support, said cams being gradu-v ated to correspond with said carriers, graduated unloading cams at said stations, and means to cause the graduatedv operating part of a loaded carrier on route past any station for which the load on said carrier is not destined, to move idly when it encounters the cam at such station which actuates said part.

15. In an inter-communicating pick-up and delivery system for messages, parcels and the like, the combination of a track hav ing a plurality of stations fromwhich articles may be despatched and to which ar-- for which the load on said carrier is not destine/d, to move idly when it encounters the cam at such station which actuates said part, and means adjacent said unloading cams for rendering nugatory the action of said last mentioned means, whereby to permit any carrier, whose operating part is controlled by the unloading cam at any given one of said stations, to unload thereat.

16. In an inter-communicating pick-up and delivery system for messages, parcels and the like, the combinatlon of a track hav-' mg a plurality of stations from which ar-.

ticles maybe despatched and to which articles maybe delivered, graduated carriers each having a movable load supporting part, a series of supports at each station adapted to present articles to be despatched to passing carriers, a series of actuating parts ateach station, each actuating part j corresponding to a support at said station,

said actuating parts at each station being graduated to selectively actuate the load supporting parts of certain-of said carriers, an unloading part at each statlon graduated to- A correspond with onlyoertain of said carriers, and means, carried by .said carriers and adapted to be pressed out of operative posi-' tion by a load thereon, to enable an actuating part at any station to normally load a corresponding carrier from the correspond ing-support atsuch station only when said carrier'is empty.

17. In an inter-communicating pick-up and delivery system for messages, parcels and thelike, the combination of a track hav ing a plurality of stations from which articles may be despatohed and to which articles may be delivered, graduated carriers each having a movableload supporting part, a series of supports at each station adapted to present articles to be despatched to passing carriers, .a series of actuatingparts at each station, each actuating part corresponding to a support at said station, said actuating part I at each station (being graduated to selectively actuate the load supporting parts of certain of said carriers, an unloading part at each station graduated to correspond with only certain ofsaid carriers, means, carried by said carriers and adapted to be pressed out of operative position by a load thereon,

to enable an actuating part at any st-ationto normally load a corresponding carrier from the corresponding support at such station only when said carrier is empty, and means at each station to enable the unloading part at said station to actuate the load supporting part of a carrier whose graduation corresponds to said unloading part, regardless of whether said carrier is loaded or not.

18. In an inter-communicating pick-up and delivery system for messages, parcels and the like, the combination of a track having a plurality of stations from which articles may be despatched and to which articles may be delivered, graduated carriers each having a movable load supporting part, a series of supports at each station adapted to present articles to bedespatched to passing carriers, a series of actuating parts at each station, each actuating part corresponding to a support at said station, said actuating parts at each station being graduated to 

